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A Forgotten Community in New Orleans: Life on a Superfund Site

Julie-Dermansky-022
By Julie Dermansky
on

Shannon Rainey lives in a houseย that wasย built on top of a Superfund site in theย Upperย Ninthย Ward of Newย Orleans.

โ€œI bought my house when I was 25, and thirty years later, I still can’t get out,โ€ย she toldย DeSmogBlog.

Raineyโ€™s home in Gordon Plaza is part of a subdivision developed by the city in 1981ย on top of the Agriculture Streetย landfill.ย No one disclosed to the buyers thatย theirย new homes were built on top of a dump that was closed inย 1965.

Rainey has a view of two other city-owned properties also built on the landfill:ย the shuttered Morton Elementary School and Press Park, an abandoned housing project developed by the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO).

ย โ€œIf it were white folks back here, this would be allย gone,โ€ย Raineyย saysย bluntly.

By Julie Dermansky
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Julie Dermansky is a multimedia reporter and artist based in New Orleans. She is an affiliate scholar at Rutgers Universityโ€™s Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. Visit her website at www.jsdart.com.

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